Humpty Dumpty

Dear Friends,

All the Queen’s doctors and all the Queen’s judges refused to put Alfie Evans family back together again…

I’m sure you heard about the birth of the latest British royal prince and the upcoming wedding of another prince. That’s because for some reason the US Media thinks they’re really important. But not much coverage on the case of Alfie Evans and his parents, who were not allowed to seek medical treatment for their child outside the UK or even take him home to die.
Aside from Royals important, commoners not so much, the key take-away from Alfie’s death and before that Charlie Gard, is that the State through the instrumentality of the law has ultimate authority over its subjects. Which means, as in these cases, it is the State through the National Health Services that has final say over a child, not the parents.
The irony here is that the Hospital prides itself as being a “centre of excellence” yet it could not come up with a diagnosis for what was wrong with Alfie Evans. So, since it could not figure out the source of the medical condition it decided to just let the child die. I thought we are living in the world of science? Why not continue to keep the child alive so that maybe a diagnosis could be found and a possible treatment? I wonder how many other people who are subject to the NHS are told that since we can’t figure out what’s wrong with you, you just have to die?
What we are seeing here is the cold, loveless hand of the secular state, scrubbed of all religious and philosophical input. Since we are told again and again that science is the only source of knowledge and truth, questions about meaning, purpose or even human decency are not allowed.
Pope Francis stepped in and tried to remind the world of the unique bond between parents and their children. He also met with the Alfie’s parents and sent the head of Rome’s Children’s Hospital and a medical transport to take Alfie to the hospital in Rome. So it would not have cost the NHS anything. But then again, they realized it would cost them a lot: their power and control. In their arrogance the British physicians would not even shake the hand of the physician from Rome. To do so would admit that they might not be in control or have the best answers. The most important thing was not Alfie’s life, well-being, or the well-being of his parents; No, the most important thing was power. Power for the sake of power.
The great English writer, C.S. Lewis put it succinctly when he wrote:
“Let scientists tell us about sciences. But government involves questions about the good for man, and justice, and what things are worth having at what price; and on these a scientific training gives a man’s opinion no added value. Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so; but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than for any other man.”
In the case of a child, the parents are the sole custodians of their child. Unless they act with malicious or deliberate indifference the State has no right to usurp their natural right to care for their child in the way they determine is best for their child. Instead what happened in the case of Alfie Evans is that the State used its coercive power to destroy the bond between parent and child. The hospital room became a jail cell, or even a death row cell, police were put on guard lest the parents try to exercise their lawful right to take the child elsewhere. The Hospital even went so far as to publicly castigate Alfie’s father for “having a bad attitude”. British police also notified that public that any unacceptable social media posts criticizing the NHS or the Hospital or its staff would be swiftly dealt with.
So much of the discussion both in the case of Alife and earlier Charlie Gard is wrapped up in medical and ethical jargon which is meant to distract from what is really going on: tyranny and oppression. The Church has lots to say on parental rights and medical ethics but the Bishops of England and Wales were pretty mum on the subject. Though they did commend the Hospital and the barristers for their professionalism. Somewhere St. Thomas More is crying.
Let’s make sure that this pernicious attack on parental rights and the usurpation of medical decisions by the State does not cross the pond. This is one British invasion we can do without.